Many electronic components have a functional body portion that connects to a circuit board or other components by a plurality of leads. Initially these leads are in plane extending horizontally outward from the body portion. In the final step before connecting within an electronic device, the planar leads are formed into a gullwing configuration. The leads are trimmed to a uniform length.
These electronic components often have leads that extend both along an X-axis and along a Y-axis and are often referred to as “quad packs” because there are four sets of leads to attach to a printed circuit board; electronic components that have leads on two sides of a device are referred to as flat packs.
The gullwing shape of the leads has an upper horizontal portion extending from the body portion, a lower foot portion, upon which the electronic component will rest when joined to the circuit surface, and an intermediate transverse portion. The vertical distance of the intermediate transverse portion between the plane of the foot portion and the bottom surface of the body portion of the component is a critical dimension in the formation of these leads.
Machines are available to form the leads of the electronic component into the desired gullwing configuration while insuring the required length of the transverse portions is constant. For example, a lower floating anvil and complementary upper die unit accomplishes the requirements without having to measure the required distances. Using sensing components, the leads are bent and trimmed to produce the desired vertical distance between foot portion of the lead and the bottom surface of the body of the component.
Generally, these machines are set-up for particular dimensions and lead types and then disassembled and reassembled with different parts to produce components with different dimensions and lead types. The process of disassembly and reassembly is time consuming and limits flexibility in the manufacturing process for these components.
While these systems may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as advantageous for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.